Happy Holidays!

From my table to yours.. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas! 

Mom's Famous Peach Cobbler

For as many holidays back as I can remember Mom always had a Peach Cobbler made for the family. I have carried on her tradition even with only a family of four. This year I decided to try something a little new and make serving size cobblers, I need four more of those small dishes for the recipe and I would have been set! I use an 8x8 dish as a back up plan but ended up having to throw out 3/4 of it because it is just to many servings of cobbler for three out of four people in my family who even like Peach Cobbler. I hope to remember this next time and give some away to friends. Mom always had left over crust, and she would turn it into these little cinnamon rolls that would satisy our sweet tooth till we could eat cobbler.

 

Stocking Twist

 

I found this great idea on Pinterest! It is suppose to look like a sled. I ran out Christmas eve to the local grocery picked up two King size Kit Kat's, a bag of the small Hershey chocolate minis, and a box of candy canes! Use a Cuttlebug tag punch made some tags and with a little shipping tape, holiday bow and fun ribbon I had this completed in a matter of minutes! It was a nice change than going over board on the pocket buying bags and bags of stuff to put in stocking.

Ginger Snaps

Ginger Snaps my Grandpa's favorite cookie. When he was with us I sent him a batch in the mail. Not a wise decision with my Grandpa he tore me a new one over the cost I paid to send them when he can buy them in store much less. Oh well I admit I didnt do it again but today I bake them in his memory. miss you Grandpa Phillips even if you were a cranky old fart!

Frosted Sugar Cookies

OMG!! They turned out so cute!!! They look better in person let me tell you, and they taste so great like the best sugar cookie I think I have ever had!

Buckeye Candy

Mom always made Buckeye candies during the Christmas holidays. Her recipe actually tastes just like Peanut butter cups! These are a hit with my family every year!

Holiday Treats!

Mini Holiday Cupcakes

Had some batter left over from making baby shower cupcakes to make mini cupcakes for the family! My daughter iced the cupcakes after I baked them! That Wilton cake decorating class paid off!

Baby Girl Cupcakes

I baked these delicious cupcakes for a baby shower and my daughter helped me ice them. I waited till the shower was over to try one, and oh my goodness! I know why they all loved them so much! They taste so yummy!

Homemade Banana Nut Bread

Homemade Turkey Pot Pie

I am determined to get a good crust, even if I have to piece it together. This is a wonderful way to use up leftover Turkey from your Thanksgiving feast. For some reason my mother never made this, we always went with the Turkey sandwich for the days after and maybe if you had enough leftover you could do both. This recipe only called for 2 cups of Turkey, I tend to add a little more. Who doesn't like a meaty Turkey pot pie? I found this recipe online and it has been my go to recipe ever since.

Turkey Pot Pie Recipe

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the USA.  Thanksgiving was first celebrated to give thanks for a good harvest by the colonists of Plymouth Plantation and members of the Wampanoag Indian tribe in 1621. Nowadays most of us tell one another what we are thankful for around the dinner table during our feast on Turkey. This year I made these most amazing Sweet Yeast Rolls, they were the best rolls I think I have ever had. I will be making them again and again year round. I am lucky to have a convection oven, in my oven I can proof the bread when I think it has doubled in size or doesn't appear to be getting any bigger, I turn it to the baking setting. I have never had rolls so big, fluffy and delicious! The ones shown in photo were proofed at room temperature and baked in regular oven. I wish I had photos of the first batch but we ate them all! :) 

Next best part of Thanksgiving dinner in my opinion are the desserts! This year I made my traditional Pumpkin Pie except I splurged I actually homemade the crust something I have not done in years. Pillsbury has been showing up a lot through the years. Homemade was the way to go! I could have a thicker crust which I like and it didn't get soft on bottom like the Pillsbury crusts because of them being so thin. Another tradition we have is a fruit salad, this year it was the Watergate salad, not totally a fruit salad but it does have crushed Pineapple and I love Pistachio pudding! 

Speaking of Pistachio's, we added two new pies to the dessert menu this year. Shown in photograph above. I went with a Banana Cream and a Pistachio Cream pie. So much yummy goodness! The only downside to making a Banana Cream Pie in this particular recipe is layering sliced banana's on bottom before adding pudding. This technique creates a watery brown liquid in the pie by the next day and it does not look appealing in any way. Unless you know your going to serve up pie and have enough people to eat it all that night I don't know about the banana cream in a full pie size. Maybe little individual size tarts of some sort would be a better choice.

Crockpot Chicken & White Bean Chili

As some of you may or may not know, I have been married for 20 years. It may seem like a long time to some but when it comes to the kitchen and cooking meals for the family I feel like a newlywed. It could very well be in part due to the fact that I was the baby of the family, even though I am the only daughter I never really learned a thing about cooking since everyone either cooked for me, or I ate a lot of cereal and bologna sandwiches. If it is not written in a recipe I am clueless. When I married my husband he knew from that first "special" dinner I cooked for him that I was lacking skills in the kitchen. I made him homemade Lasagna. On the box it reads Cook Noodles Separately. All that comes in a box of Lasagna noodles is the noodles. So yes I cooked each noodle as it said, separately. I wanted this dinner to be special, and boy was it ever! It took almost 4 hours just to get the noodles cooked. Dinner was not ready when he arrived, and boy did he get a good laugh. How was I suppose to know? 

My decision to start a blog for cooking was to try new recipes in hopes that I can come up with some meals we like, that maybe we never had before. I need ideas people! The kids are grown but back living at home, bologna and frozen dinners won't cut it at their ages. Plus my husband says he's against "boxed" meals so no hamburger helpers to help me out! Ugh! 

My husband was married once before and he never had to cook a meal; in fact, from what he says his ex-wife may have never even known what a great cook he is! He is an awesome cook and we have relied on him mostly to kick up the meals a notch. He works so hard everyday now that he has had to put the carpenters tool belt back on and I want to try to put a smile on his face, and fill that belly with yummy goodness! 

This weekend I decided to try Crock-pot Chicken & White Bean Chili. I don't know it was not one of my faves, kind of bland. I think I prefer my white beans alone or with ham and corn bread. This meal was not a hit with the kids either, the husband liked it pretty well but he adds so much red pepper I'm surprised he tasted anything but that. :) 

If you would like to try this recipe I found it online here.

Bacon Cheddar Omelete with saute Mushrooms

Made this today for my family, added cilantro and topped with sour cream for the kids and the hubby wanted his homemade green salsa.

Baked Ziti

Baked Ziti! This is so good. Totally up my alley! Recipe called for cottage cheese I exchanged that for Ricotta. My favorite dish I have attempted thus far and very filling! Want to try this amazing recipe?
Click this link http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Ziti-IV/Detail.aspx

Beef Enchiladas

Tonights Recipe: Beef Enchiladas! For the first time ever trying this recipe it wasn't so bad. I found a few things I need to do to the recipe to make more family members pleased with it. Hubby preferred corn tortillas, daughter would have liked less salsa, but my son devoured them!In my opinion if I were to give it review I would give it 2 maybe 3 stars out of 5. :) 

Want to try the recipe for your self? Click link below!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Better-Than-Ever-Beef-Enchiladas-2/Detail.aspx

Happy Birthday Johnathan!

Finished decorating my husbands birthday cake for September 16th, he will be 49! Note to self: never have caffeine before starting projects that you need a calm hand. I was shaking so badly, I should have stopped and finished later but I wanted it decorated before hubby came home from work. Luckily I am just a beginner at this and not trying to make a profit, its all for fun! So this is what a rushed shaky hand decorated cake looks like. :)

Crock-pot Cowboy Casserole

Oh now this recipe was like a good down home cooked meal! Didn't expect it to be so good! Top with shredded cheddar even if it tastes fine without the cheese. Add cheese, you will be pleased. Want the recipe click link below!

http://www.familyfreshmeals.com/2013/08/cheesy-crockpot-cowboy-casserole.html

Crock-pot Lasagna Soup

Second attempt at this recipe. First attempt I didn't have onions, it was still great. It calls for V8 and I wanted to make this again so the V8 doesn't go to waste since no one here particularly likes to drink V8 Juice. I probably should have bought a small can of V8 but that's okay I made it for a second time and the family was just as pleased as the first time I made it. I learned after the first attempt to omit the noodles and cook them separate so they don't get soggy. My family doesn't like overcooked soggy noodles and making them separately helps for leftovers. You can use the soup on any noodles I would think,  in case you run out of shells on the first night. I found the recipe on Pinterest, I followed the link and I will now share with you!

 http://www.familyfreshmeals.com/2012/11/slow-cooker-crockpot-lasagna-soup.html

Italian Caprese Chicken

Caprese Chicken! Ooh this turned out wonderfully! Since I cannot use my grill because I'm out of propane I baked the chicken on the lo Broil setting flipping every 7 minutes till almost cooked through then I cranked up to hi broil till golden brown on outside. Serve it up topping with the salsa. For the salsa I had to improvise I had hard time finding fresh basil in town, had to buy a whole plant and I didn't even bother looking for fresh mozzarella so I used Kraft shredded version. I think it would have been 5 stars had I had the good cheese, I give it 4 1/2 stars! This is a definite keeper to add to the families faves!

Want to try this recipe? I found it here!

Mexican Crockpot Lasagna

Mexican Crockpot Lasagna

Mexican Crockpot Lasagna, sounds different so I must make it for my family, they'll try it! I have to admit I was apprehensive about corn tortillas in the crock-pot but when it is finished you cannot tell they were even tortillas and it is delicious! I ran out of tomatoes for the topping and was lucky enough to have a can of spicy Rotel in the pantry. It added that extra little kick that it would probably have been missing. 

I believe 1 out of 10 my hubby looked like he would give it a 9 almost 10 or he was really hungry this evening from his hard days work. None the less, there is plenty leftover. I love cooking in the crock-pot! 

Want the recipe? You can find it here!

Vanilla Cream Root Beer

Vanilla Cream Root Beer

This tasty refreshment was inspired by my daughters best friend Jaymie. She always ordered these at the local Sonic Drive In restaurant and we decided to try it out, at her request. Much to my surprise, it tastes quite good. I had all the ingredients in the pantry today so I treated my hubby to a Vanilla Cream Root Beer. He cannot stop drinking them! He's hooked I believe!

1 Tablespoon Torani Vanilla

1 Tablespoon Half & Half

Full glass  Root Beer on ice

 Mix together. 

Enjoy!

Italian Cream Soda

Italian Cream Soda is so very delightful! Here is mine I made for my family this Friday night! They were very pleased! By the time I took my photo my cherry fell to the bottom, oh well! That just means its time to drink it up! Mmmmm!

Want to treat your loved ones to an Italian Cream Soda? You will find the recipe here!

Chimney Cake

The August Daring Bakers' Challenge took us for a spin! Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen taught us to make rolled pastries inspired by Kurtoskalacs, a traditional Hungarian wedding pastry. These tasty yeasted delights gave us lots to celebrate!

Above is my finished Chimney Cake coated in cinnamon sugar & pecans with a smear of Nutella on the inside! Yum!!

Sheperds Pie

My first attempt ever at Shepherds Pie. Why Shepherds Pie you might ask. My husband has been telling me for months to make Shepherds Pie and in all honesty the thought of it made me cringe. Obviously I didn't know what I was missing! Yum! It turned out very good. The hubby enjoyed it, but apparently not the Shepherds Pie recipe he remembers. I well have to search the internet some more for a Shepherds Pie that is actually a pie. What he's really saying is Beef Pot Pie, but whatever. He doesn't have a clue...lol! 

The recipe for this Shepherds Pie is located here Shepherds Pie Tutorial Video

I added a pouch of powder beef gravy to help thicken. 

Doggie Treats

On a visit to Branson, MO we stopped into this cute little Amish store. I love cookie cutters and spotted this adorable dog bone shaped cutter. On its package was the dog bone recipe. I had planned to pass out 1/2 dozen to friends, but my 4 dogs absolutely loved them! Next time I may need to make a double batch. :)

Homemade Glazed Yeast Doughnuts

So I was craving some glazed doughnuts. I had decided to stop in at our local Dunkin Donuts. I order our usual, the mixed dozen. Normally I get a great variety, with cake, iced and glazed. On this particular occasion I only received cake doughnuts. I was craving glazed. It set me off, and I was on a mission to make my own glazed doughnuts. It was on my bucket list to attempt some day. Ever since going to school as a visitor for a day with a friend who lived in another state. My friend Stephanie had a class that was a baking class and on the day I attended with her they were making yeast doughnuts. I was not allowed to participate because I was not a student but I had that inner urge to some day make doughnuts myself. No longer! These turned out to be the best! The dough was so easy to make, it calls for unseasoned mash potatoes. I popped a couple taters in the microwave mashed them babies up and before long I was cutting up doughnut shapes in my yeast dough. I found the recipe in Betty Crocker's Cookbook, a cookbook passed down to me from my mother.

Homemade Taco Shells

Oh these are AMAZING! They turned out thick, if you have ever eaten at Taco Bueno these shells are  like a Muchaco. But oh so good! This recipe came from Betty Crockers Cookbook that was handed down to me from my mother.

Wilton Birthday Cake

 This cake was inspired by a cake in an old Wilton Decorator catalog. I made this for my daughter's 20th birthday.  It turned out tasting just as good as it looks! Delish!

Happy 20th Birthday!

 

 Happy 20th birthday to my daughter! I baked and decorated this cake for her.

Homemade Fudge Brownies

Using Cocoa Powder these delicious very fudgy brownies took care of my craving for today

Mother's Day Lunch

Mother's Day Lunch from Louie's provided by my sweet little girl!

Baking Yeast Sweet Rolls